Joe Teti

Joseph "Joe" Teti is a television personality who co-hosted the Discovery Channel reality show Dual Survival from 2013 to 2015. A former marine, National Guard Special Forces soldier, and military contractor,^[1][2][3] Teti was accused of embellishing his military experience and career in 2014, and took legal action against his detractors.

In 2014, members of the Special Forces Association - including Teti's former friend and fellow reality-tv personality, Mykel Hawke - questioned Teti's claims of military combat experience, and his claims of having completed various special forces training courses and certifications.^[1][4][3] In response, Teti argued that his claim to combat experience was valid because he had served as a military contractor in war zones, and said that he had "never commented nor have I posted in any media information pertaining to medals I have or don't have, or service that I did or did not perform."^[4][1]

In response to complaints from Hawke and other members, the Special Forces Association revoked Teti's membership in September of 2014.^[3] Hawke and Teti exchanged "a wide range of accusations and counter-accusations" online for months,^[3] and in December 2014 Teti filed a lawsuit against Hawke, who was the co-star of Discovery’s former show, “Man, Woman, Wild,” alleging that Hawke had "defamed in an orchestrated online attack, costing him lucrative corporate sponsorship's and damaged reputation".^[5] On March 26, 2015, Superior Court Judge Jesse Caldwell of Gaston County agreed in principle to Teti's request that Hawke should be banned from publicizing, "any false and defamatory communications" about Teti to Facebook, and other websites "and any media outlet of any kind," in a pre-publication injunction until the case is resolved. Legal experts interviewed by the Charlotte Observer questioned whether the proposed injunction would be constitutional.^[5]

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